Last year Billy Bob Thorntonstarted to talk about a late ’60s-set family drama called Jayne Mansfield’s Car. He and Tom Epperson wrote the script, in part as a response to the fact that Mr. Thornton wasn’t all that taken with a lot of the films being made lately, and he plans to direct it this year. Robert Duvall was announced as one primary player, and now it looks like he’ll be joined by Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Quaid. Read More »

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FilmDistrict, the company spun off from Graham King’s GK FIlms, has been very busy at Cannes. The company has picked up distribution rights to the 3D version of Arabian Nights that we reported on a while back, starringLiam Hemsworth, as well as the Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel romcom Playing the Field.

And now that the lousy announcements are out of the way, there are these, too: FilmDistrict is teaming with TriStar to release Rian Johnson‘s film Looper (we just had the first still from that one on Friday) and Angelina Jolie‘s directorial debut, which now has the title In the Land of Blood and Honey. More info on all four films, after the break. Read More »

David Hasselhoff has become the latest actor to join Piranha 3DD, the sequel to last year’s Piranha 3D (which in turn was a remake of the 1978 film Piranha). The new cast looks just as enjoyably eclectic as the last one — in addition to returning stars Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, and Paul Scheer, 3DD will also feature Katrina Bowden (30 Rock), Gary Busey (Point Break), Danielle Panabaker (The Crazies), David Koechner (Anchorman) and Matt Bush (Adventureland).

Here’s the plot synopsis — not that the premise is terribly difficult to figure out:

There’s something in the water . . . again. And this time no one is safe from the flesh eating fish as they sink their razor sharp teeth into the visitors of the best summer attraction, The Big Wet Water Park.

Piranha 3DD is currently shooting in Wilmington, NC under the direction of John Gulager (Feast). The film will open November 23, 2012. [The Hollywood Reporter]

After the jump: A plagiarizer, an Italian bird scientist, and a host of Hollywood stars.

That Footloose remake that no one asked for and everyone keeps forgetting about (okay, maybe that’s just me) is still moving forward, and we have new images to prove it. The updated version stars relative unknown Kenny Wormald as protagonist Ren McCormack and two-time Dancing with the Stars winner Julianne Hough as love interest Ariel Moore — the parts originally played by Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer.

The new photos show, among other things, Hough looking cute in cutoffs, Wormald looking like a slick city boy, and Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell as Ariel’s parents. Check ‘em out after the jump.

Earlier this month, a in-house promotional teaser trailer leaked for Soul Surfer, a drama about young, teenage surfer girl (played by Bridge To Terabithia/Race To Witch Mountain‘s AnnaSophia Robb) who “summons the courage to go back into the ocean after losing an arm in a shark attack.” When I posted the teaser, I was kind of weirded out that it contained no hint of a shark attack — the teaser made it out like the film is just a happy-go-lucky story about a teenage girl surfer.

The new full length trailer which has premiered on EW (via FirstShowing) gives audiences the full reveal of what this story is really about. That and a really cheesy speech from Carrie Underwood. Written and directed by Sean McNamara (Bring it On: Fight To The Finish, Into The Blue 2: The Reef, Bratz, 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain), the film co-starring Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood, and Kevin Sorbo. Watch the trailer embedded after the jump. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Our long national nightmare is over! The Footloose remake finally has a cast. Now I can rest easy tonight. Mostly because no one I care too much about is in the movie, which Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan) is still directing. OK, there’s Dennis Quaid, playing John Lithgow’s role, but he’s been in worse. The rest of the names, each of which is sure to thrill you in different ways, after the break. Read More »

This might be the year’s most unlikely romantic comedy pairing: Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro are tapped to appear in the screen version of Jane Heller‘s novel An Ex to Grind. Del Toro would be a star athlete who has supported his wife, a waitress. But an injury sidelines his career, after which he becomes a housebound nobody, while her business career takes off. When she realizes that asking for a divorce would lead to her paying alimony to support his new, lame lifestyle, she tries to find him a new wife.

The two actors are just attached now, and there is no director attached. So anything could happen, which, hopefully, might include this film not happening. [Deadline]

After the break, Liam Hemsworth gets a sports movie, and The Girl With the Red Riding Hood gets a male lead. Read More »

Here’s a brief update on Steven Soderbergh‘s upcoming spy/fight film Knockout, which has been the subject of several castingbreaks over the past week. The latest (and last?) major cast member to sign on is Michael Angarano. Gina Carano plays an operative for a private military contractor who is betrayed by one of her teammates. Angarano will play a teenager who ends up as Carano’s unwitting partner after he helps her out of a tight spot, says THR.

That’s the first shred of plot that has lessened my interest in the movie, but I’ll still trust in Soderbergh and his screenwriter Lem Dobbs. Also in the cast, in case you missed the news, are Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Dennis Quaid and Channing Tatum. Antonio Banderas is rumored to be signing on, too.

Meanwhile, care to place your bets on whether Agnarano is in the running to be the new Peter Parker in Sony’s Spider-Man reboot? Along with Anton Yelchin and Andrew Garfield, you’d think he’s very possibly on the shortlist.

When Steven Soderberghannounced that he would direct a spy/action film starring MMA fighter Gina Carano written by his The Limey screenwriter Lem Dobbs, the reaction was positive. Now that the name supporting cast is being revealed, I’m curious to hear what people have to say. Personally, each news item has elevated my interest. There are also some new details on the script, as the original idea for the film has been reworked slightly, though it is still very much in the action/thriller vein. Read More »